The present invention relates to a plasma display panel and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique effectively applied to a plasma display panel in which a plurality of MgO crystalline particles are attached on a surface of a protective film.
Plasma display panel (PDP) is a display panel which displays images by generating gas discharge in a discharge space called a cell in which a discharge gas such as rare gas is filled to excite a phosphor by vacuum ultraviolet rays generated by the gas discharge.
Currently, generally commercialized PDPs employing an AC (alternate current) driving method are surface discharge type. In the surface discharge type PDP, phosphors for color display can be arranged away from a display electrode pair toward a thickness direction of the panel, and characteristic degradation of the phosphors due to ion bombardment (sputtering) in discharge can be accordingly reduced. Therefore, the surface discharge type PDP is suitable for extending lifetime as compared with an opposed discharge type PDP in which display electrodes to be paired (called an X electrode and a Y electrode) are distributed to a front plate and a back plate.
In the generally used surface discharge type PDPs, a protective film for preventing a dielectric layer covering the display electrode pair from degradation due to ion bombardment in discharge is provided to a front plate. Also, the protective film has a function of protecting the dielectric layer from sputtering in discharge and a function of emitting secondary electrons by ion impact against the protective film to grow discharge.
As the protective film, a thin film of magnesium oxide (MgO) is generally used according to its ion bombardment resistance and easiness in secondary electron emission (for example, refer to Japanese Patent No. 3247632 (Patent Document 1)).